France
Media appeal for release of BBC reporterPosted Jun 20 2007
More that 100 news media brandished their logos on the lawn of Champs-de-Mars in Paris June 20, joining a worldwide appeal for the release of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston who has been held hostage by Palestinian militants since March 12. The organizers are also requesting the freedom of 14 other journalists kidnapped in Iraq.
“We must now, more than ever, take action to demand Alan Johnston's swift release,” Reporters Without Borders said on its Web site. “This BBC correspondent must not be forgotten as the Gaza Strip is plunged into more and more violent crises. It falls to Hamas, which now has sole control of the Gaza Strip, to do everything possible to obtain his release. Johnston should not have to pay for the instability in the Palestinian Territories, which he had been covering since 2005.”
The head of the Gaza clan that holds Johnston, Mumtaz Dughmush, also known as Abu Muhammad, is negotiating Johnston's release in return for guarantees from Hamas that members of Dughmush's clan won't be killed, The Jerusalem Post reported.
For more information visit http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=22618